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Ambassador Michael McFaul, Obama’s former envoy to Russia, said while Trump has defined his top objective as “getting along with the Kremlin,” Putin has higher goals, including the lifting of economic sanctions and, ideally, US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“Obviously, Putin’s not responding because he’s waiting for Jan. 20,” McFaul said in an inter- view. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“He’s got these much more important objec- tives to him than getting into a tit-for-tat response with the outgoing administration.” Trump’s warm outreach to Putin, combined with picks for secretary of state and national secu- rity adviser who are seen as friendly to Russia, have left hawkish Republicans with a particularly unpleasant choice: look hypocritical for back- tracking on their own tough talk, or risk a public rift with their party’s new president. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
In the House, many Republicans who have long called for tougher sanctions have been silent or vague about Obama’s penalties and Trump’s positions.
But a handful of GOP senators have shown they have no intentions of letting up pres- sure on the Kremlin.
“We intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia,” said Republican Sens.
John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, scheduled a hearing next week on “foreign cyber threats” in an attempt to further spotlight Russia’s actions.
Even if Trump opts to pull back Obama’s sanc- tions and overlook hacking allegations, he may find rapprochement with Russia isn’t that simple.
The past two presidents both tried to reach out to Russia early in their terms but left office with rela- tions in no better shape. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Though Trump has suggested the US and Russia should align strategies in Syria by focusing on their mutual enemy, the Islamic State group, Russia’s military campaign has almost exclusively targeted American-backed Syrian rebels, the US has said.
Nor is it clear whether Trump and Putin share a common approach to Europe’s security issues.
And if Trump follows through on his vow to renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal, he won’t find a receptive audience in Moscow. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Putin’s govern- ment brokered the deal with the US, Iran and oth- er world powers and has no intention of slapping sanctions back on Iran.
— Reuters Russia, brushing off Obama, looks to friendlier Trump Stunning embrace of long-time US adversary WASHINGTON: For eight years, a leader- less Republican Party has rallied around its passionate opposition to President Barack Obama and an unceasing devotion to small government, free markets and fiscal discipline.
No more. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
No more.
On the eve of his inauguration, Donald Trump is remaking the party in his image, casting aside decades of Republican orthodoxy for a murky populist agenda that sometimes clashes with core conservative beliefs.
Yet his stunning election gives the GOP a formal leader for the first time in nearly a decade.
The New York real estate mogul becomes the face of the party, the driver of its policies and its chief enforcer. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Despite their excitement, Republican loyalists across the country concede that major questions remain about their party’s identity in the age of Trump.
The simple answer: The modern-day Republican Party stands for whatever Trump wants it to.
“He’s a sometime-Republican,” American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp said.
“Donald Trump was elected without having to really put all the details out on all these questions.
We are going to see in the first six months how this plays out. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Does government get bigger or does it get smaller?” Trump is eyeing a governing agenda that includes big-ticket items that Schlapp and other conservative leaders would fight against under any other circumstances.
Yet some see Trump’s agenda as more in line with the concerns of average Americans, which could help the party’s underwhelm- ing public standing and keep them in power. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The president-elect initially prom- ised a massive infrastructure spending bill to update the nation’s roads and bridges, an investment that could dwarf the infra- structure spending Republicans opposed when it appeared in Obama’s 2009 stimu- lus package.
Trump has also vowed to put the federal government in the child care business by allowing parents to offset child care costs with tax breaks. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
And he has railed against regional trade deals and threatened to impose tariffs on some imports, a sharp break from the free-mar- ket approach that has defined Republican policies for decades.
“From a policy perspective, he might be one of the more flexible Republican presi- dents.
He’s just not encumbered with 30 years of Republican ideology,” said veteran Republican operative Barry Bennett, a for- mer Trump adviser.
“If there’s a win involved, he’s interested,” Bennett said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have expressed some hesitation, but most appear to be willing to embrace the incoming president’s priorities - at least at first.
There are indications that Trump may initially avoid issues that would divide his party. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
That’s according to Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who said in a recent radio interview that the new administration will focus in its first nine months on conservative priorities like repealing Obama’s health care law and rewriting tax laws. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
In a post-election interview with The New York Times, Trump acknowledged that he didn’t realize during the campaign that New Deal-style proposals to put people to work building infrastructure might conflict with his party’s small-government philosophy.
“That’s not a very Republican thing - I didn’t even know that, frankly,” Trump said.
Trump’s confusion can be forgiven, perhaps, given his inexperience in Republican poli- tics. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
He was a registered Democrat in New York between August 2001 and September 2009.
And once he became a Republican, his political views were shaped from his perch in New York City, where the Republican minority is much more liberal - particularly on social issues - than their counterparts in other parts of the country.
Trump said he was “fine” with same-sex marriage in a post-election interview in November, for example. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
And while he opposes abortion rights, he supported Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion-related women’s health services throughout his campaign.
—AP Grand Old Party?
Trump remaking GOP in his image WASHINGTON: In this Nov 10, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump (center) walks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AP NEW YORK: Ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and other shootings around the country led to a sharp increase in the number of police killed in the line of duty this year.
From Jan 1 through Wednesday, 135 officers lost their lives.
Some died in traffic accidents, but nearly half were shot to death.
That’s a 56 percent increase in shooting deaths over the previous year. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Of the 64 who were fatally shot, 21 were killed in ambush attacks often fueled by anger over police use of force involving minorities.
“We’ve never seen a year in my memory when we’ve had an increase of this magnitude in officer shooting deaths,” said Craig Floyd, president and chief executive of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
“These officers were killed simply because of the uniform they wear and the job they do. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
This is unacceptable to the humane society that we are.” In Dallas, a sniper on July 7 attacked at the end of what had been a peaceful rally against police brutality.
He killed five law enforce- ment officers and wounded nine others - the largest death toll among law enforcement from a single event since the 9/11 attacks, which killed 72 officers. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Months later, Dallas businesses and residents still display blue rib- bons and banners declaring, “We support our Dallas police officers.” But even amid community support, the police department remains unsettled.
Hundreds of officers have retired or left the force over the past six months as the city struggles to find a way to increase pay and save a failing police and fire pension system.
Former Chief David Brown, who became a national figure in the aftermath, was among those who opted to retire. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
And interim Dallas Police Association president Frederick Frazier said that morale is “almost nonexistent.” “A lot of us are going through the motions at work.
We’re hoping things will get better with our struggle,” he said.
Frazier added that the attack was a “game changer.
It changed the perception of law enforcement.
It reversed the role after Ferguson. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
It reversed the role after Ferguson.
We were the pursuer and now, we’re being pursued.” Less than two weeks after the Dallas attack, a lone gunman in Baton Rouge shot and killed three officers and wounded three others outside a convenience store in the weeks after a black man, 37-year-old Alton Sterling, was shot and killed by police during a struggle. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
—AP Shootings drive up number of police killed in line of duty Kennedy kin’s murder conviction reinstated STAMFORD: This file photo taken on November 21, 2013 shows Michael Skakel as he is granted bail at Stamford Superior Court in Stamford, Connecticut.
— AFP SEOUL: Even on New Year’s Eve, large crowds of South Koreans gathered to join another rally demanding the ouster of impeached President Park Geun-hye, who’s deter- mined to restore her powers through a court trial. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Carrying signs and candles and blowing horns, people packed a boulevard in front of an old palace gate that has been the center of massive but peaceful protests in recent weeks.
Protesters later marched near Seoul’s presidential palace and the Constitutional Court.
Park’s supporters rallied in nearby streets, surrounded by thick lines of police.
The court has up to six months to decide whether Park should permanently step down over a corruption scandal or be reinstated. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The judges said Friday that Park cannot be forced to testify in the impeachment tri- al as it enters its argument phase next week.
Protest organizers estimate that nearly 9 million people took part in anti-Park rallies nationwide in the previous nine Saturdays.
The historically biggest protest movement in the country pushed lawmakers to vote for Park’s impeachment on Dec 9. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
State prosecutors have accused Park of colluding with a longtime confidante to extort money and favors from the country’s largest companies and allowing the friend to manipulate her administration.
Park has apolo- gized for putting faith in her jailed friend, Choi Soon-sil, but has denied any legal wrongdoing. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
‘Our democracy has shattered’ “Choi Soon-sil has shown us that our democracy was shattered,” said Lee Hae-jin, who protested for the 10th con- secutive Saturday in Seoul, carrying a large South Korean flag and wearing black traditional hanbok and a black dance mask that he said was a commentary on the state of the country’s democracy.
“I hope in 2017 we will see our democracy repaired,” Lee said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
State prosecutors have now handed over the investigation to a special prosecution team, which has been focusing on proving bribery suspicions between Park and the Samsung Group.
The business giant is sus- pected of sponsoring Choi in exchange for government favors.
On Saturday, investigators questioned Moon Hyung-pyo, the country’s arrested former health minister, over allegations that he forced the National Pension Service last year to support a merger between two Samsung affiliates last year. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The deal shaved the fund’s stake in one of the compa- nies by an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in val- ue, but allowed Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong to promote a father-to-son succession of leadership and increase corpo- rate wealth at the group.
— AP I N T E R N AT I O N A L SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017 COLUMBUS: A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a judge’s order blocking death row inmates from information about Ohio’s new lethal injection process. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The 2-1 decision by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals will help determine whether Ohio will proceed with its first executions in three years beginning in February.
Attorneys for condemned inmates had challenged the order.
Ohio plans to execute Ronald Phillips on Feb. 15 for raping and killing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in 1993.
Another execution is scheduled for April. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Another execution is scheduled for April.
Judge Eugene Siler, writing for the majority, said a judge didn’t abuse his discretion last fall when he barred the release of information about Ohio’s new lethal injection process requested by attorneys for Phillips and other inmates.
Those attorneys can still pursue their challenge of lethal injection drugs in the process, including tak- ing the state up on its offer to provide samples for testing, Siler said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Although knowledge of drug facil- ities and handlers could help defense attorneys test the drugs, “the harm presented by identification of those intimately involved in an execution outweighs the speculative benefit of complete understanding of an industry already heavily regulated,” Siler said.
In a dissent, Judge Jane Stranch said the judge’s order shields from attorneys “a vast array of informa- tion” from the qualifications of the execution team to how Ohio obtained the drugs. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“In sum, they do not have the information they need to ensure that the testing is adequate or that the executions will be car- ried out in a constitutional manner,” Stranch wrote.
Shield information The state prisons agency said it was reviewing the ruling and awaiting an expected follow-up deci- sion by a lower court judge, who put executions briefly on hold until the 6th Circuit ruled.
A message was left with the lead attorney challenging the judge’s order. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
At issue before the court were new efforts Ohio is making to shield information about lethal injection in hopes of jump-starting execu- tions, which have been on hold since January 2014.
That’s when it took condemned inmate Dennis McGuire 26 minutes to die from a never-before- used two-drug method while he repeatedly gasped and snorted. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Last fall, now-retired Judge Gregory Frost issued a protective order that said Ohio’s need to obtain supplies of lethal drugs outweighed concerns by death row inmates that information about the drugs, including names of the manufacturers, is needed to meaningfully challenge them.
Friday’s ruling upheld Frost’s order.
Defense attorneys argued they couldn’t meaningfully challenge the use of the drugs without the information being shielded. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
They also said the secrecy protections are unnecessary given the history of lawsuits over lethal injection in Ohio.
The attorneys also said federal rules for obtaining evidence should take precedence over a state law trying to shield that evidence.
For its part, the state cited defense attorneys’ “wildly exaggerated and misplaced arguments” to say that the protective order should stay in place. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The state’s interest in keeping lethal injection information confidential far outweighs death row inmates’ right to the release of that information, the state said.
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in October announced plans to use a new three-drug combina- tion - midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassi- um chloride - for at least three executions. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AP SEOUL: In this Wednesday, Dec 28 photo, high school students take a selfie in front of a screen showing Korean traditional characters at the National Hangeul Museum.
— AP SEOUL: Impeached President Park Geun-hye’s surname is “Park,” right?
Nope.
In Korean it’s closer to “Bahk.” Park’s allegedly corrupt confi- dante, Choi Soon-sil, pronounces her name more like “Chwey” than the way it’s rendered in English.
And Samsung’s ailing chairman, Lee Kun-hee? | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
And Samsung’s ailing chairman, Lee Kun-hee?
That English “Lee” is more like “Yi” or “Ii” in Korean.
There is a gulf, often a wide one, between the way Koreans write their names in English and the way they actually sound.
Even the ubiquitous “Kim” - the moniker of beloved South Korean Olympic figure skating champion Yuna Kim and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un - belies: It’s pronounced “Ghim” in Korean. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
While the flubs of foreigners who take the Romanized spellings literally cause smirks for the bilingual, the mispronunciations can also create confusion and embarrassment among visiting politicians, tourists and business people.
The disputed reasons behind the discrepancies are linked to a complex mix of history, American influence, herd mentality and individual quirks. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Here’s a brief look: The history South Korea’s guidelines for converting the Korean language into the Roman alphabet were last revised in 2000 to try to get road signs, places, internet domain names, guide- books and surnames closer to their actual Korean pronunciations. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
When those rules are applied to surnames, “Lee” should be “I” (pronounced “Ii”), “Kim” should be “Gim,” “Park” should be “Bak” and “Choi” should be “Choe.” But because people can decide how to spell their own names, many sim- ply go with the way everyone else does it, which means they follow what their families have favored for generations.
So Kim, Park and Lee still dominate.
Experts differ about the origins of these English spellings of Korean surnames. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Some think that when South Korea was briefly under U.S. military rule following the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial occupation, Americans chose existing English names or words - such as Kim, Lee and Park - for Korean pronunciations that sounded similar.
Others say it was South Koreans who started borrowing those recognizable English words. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
When there wasn’t any easy match in English, South Koreans simply settled for spellings that “felt OK,” according to Brother Anthony of Taize, a British-born scholar and prolific translator of Korean literature.
The spellings of some names are linked to a 1939 Romanization system invented by two Americans that was widely used before the 2000 revision.
Isolated, proud Pyongyang uses a variant of the old system. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“Kim” is the same in both Koreas, but the south- ern “Lee” and “Park” are “Ri and “Pak” in the North.
The mistakes English mispronunciation, of course, hap- pens in many languages that don’t use the Roman alphabet, but the list of foul-ups by for- eigners relying on the confusing Korean system is long. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
During a joint news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Washington in October 2015, President Barack Obama called her “Park,” just as it sounds in English, not “Bahk.” When he held another joint press conference with Park’s predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, in 2012, he pronounced his name as “Lee,” not “Ii.” If Obama, who has a staff of Korean experts, couldn’t get it right, your average visitor to South Korea is doomed.
In some ways, the new Romanization rules are as bad as the old ones. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
For instance, an affluent southern area in Seoul, and the inspiration for the world-dominating 2012 song by South Korean rapper PSY, is spelled “Gangnam.” The first part of this word will look to many English speakers without any Korean like the first syllable of the word “gang- ster.” But a better spelling is “Gahngnam.” A southern town famous for traditional red pepper paste is spelled “Sunchang.” Many English speakers pronounce the first part of the word as “sun” from “sunshine;” it’s actually “soon- chahng.” The rules are simply too far off from the reality, according to Yaang Byungsun, a linguist at South Korea’s Jeonju University. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“It’s a system that no one, except for South Koreans, can pro- nounce,” he said.
South Korean officials defend their Romanization rules by saying they are for all foreigners, not just English-speakers.
The big three, and beyond The National Institute of Korean Language says it’s working to come up with a recom- mended standard for spelling surnames.
But it’s probably too late. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
But it’s probably too late.
The English spellings of the three surnames that account for nearly half of South Korea’s 50 million people - Kim, Park and Lee - are firmly in place.
— AP Mangling Korean names?
It might not be your fault PARIS: The son of Equatorial Guinea’s leader, a notorious playboy with extrava- gant taste in cars, homes and Michael Jackson memorabilia, will go on trial for corruption next week in a landmark case in France. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Teodorin Obiang, the 47-year-old vice-president of his impoverished but oil- rich African country, faces widening legal problems as authorities in France and Switzerland probe his extraordinary lifestyle.
US officials have already forced him to forfeit property bought with the proceeds of corruption and have accused him of “shamelessly” looting his country. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
In Europe, his luxury 76-metre (250-foot) yacht “Ebony Shine” has been seized, as has his collection of Italian supercars and a mansion on one of Paris’ glitziest avenues.
That property alone on Avenue Foch, where the taps are covered in gold leaf, is estimated to be worth around 107 million euros.
It includes a private cinema, spa, hair salon and sports room. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
When French judi- cial officials first launched raids in Paris in 2011, they hired trucks to haul away his Bugattis, Ferraris, Rolls Royce and other cars which were memorably photographed leaving the scene.
The trial from Monday sets a precedent for France which has long turned a blind eye to African dictators who routinely park their ill-gotten gains in Parisian real estate and luxury products. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
It came about after nearly a decade of lobbying by African anti- corruption campaigners and Transparency International who have targeted Obiang as well as the leaders of Gabon and Congo.
“In the beginning, there was simply no politi- cal will in France to listen to us,” wrote one of the campaigners, William Bourdon from the Sherpa group, in September. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Timber wealth French prosecutors allege that party- loving Obiang plundered nearly 110 million euros between 2004-2011 when he was agriculture minister for his father Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The money allegedly came directly from state accounts and was used by him personally, rather than on the country’s citizens-more than half of whom live in extreme poverty. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
As agriculture minister he held a power- ful position that gave him control over the lucrative timber industry which is Equatorial Guinea’s main export after oil.
A so-called “revolutionary” tax imposed on wood sales was transferred to his personal accounts, prosecutors allege.
Facing charges of laundering the pro- ceeds of corruption, embezzlement, misuse of public funds and breach of trust, he plans to plead not guilty. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
He has “always said that he earned the money legally in his country,” one of his lawyers, Emmanuel Marsigny, told AFP.
Marsigny is planning to immediately ask for a delay in proceedings to give him more time to prepare Obiang’s defence.
Multiple hearings have been planned for the first two weeks of January.
The defendant, who has failed with previ- ous legal efforts to stop the trial, is not expected to attend or serve any sentence if he is convicted. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Shameless looting Born in 1969, Obiang was 10 when his father overthrew his bloodthirsty uncle, the dictator Francisco Macias Nguema, who liked being called “the unique miracle of Equatorial Guinea”.
After independence from Spain in 1968, Macias Nguema closed schools and hospitals, dismantled railway lines and banned the wearing of shoes in the deeply poor country. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Now the longest- serving African ruler, Teodoro Obiang Nguema made his son vice-president in June just after being re-elected with his usual score of more than 90 percent of votes cast. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
During one of his appeals against the French trial, a lawyer acting for the French government said Obiang had a “compulsive need to buy.” — AFP E Guinea playboy on trial in landmark French case India mine collapse body toll rises to 11 NEW DELHI: The toll from a deadly mine collapse in eastern India’s Jharkhand state rose to 11 yesterday with rescue workers searching for more dead bodies under the rubble. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
A massive mound of earth caved in late Thursday at the Lalmatia open cast mine, around 240 miles (390 kilometers) from the state capital Ranchi.
“The search operation at the site hasn’t stopped.
We can confirm 11 dead and fear that one or two more dead bodies may still be under the rubble,” Jharkhand police spokesman RK Mallick told AFP after rescuers recovered another body, raising the toll from 10. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“15 or 16 miners had managed to escape the collapsed mine soon after the incident on Thursday with only minor injuries.
The tough terrain of the region (remote forest) and dense fog has been a challenge to the rescue work,” he added.
The rescue workers hope to complete their search operation by yesterday.
There was no imme- diate explanation for the collapse, but the govern- ment has launched an investigation into the inci- dent. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Jharkhand is one of the richest mineral zones in India, accounting for around 29 percent of the country’s coal deposits.
However it is also one of India’s poorest areas and the epicenter of a Maoist insurgency.
India has maintained a relatively safe record in mining-related accidents compared to neighbor China, which on average reports around 1,000 fatali- ties every year.
In 2015, India recorded 38 deaths across 570 mining sites. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The last major mining acci- dent in India occurred in 1975, when 372 workers were killed following the flooding of Chasnala mine in Dhanbad.
— AFP MALABO: This file photo taken on June 24, 2013 shows Teodoro (aka Teodorin) Nguema Obiang Mongue, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president, arriving at Malabo stadium for ceremonies to celebrate his 41st birthday. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AFP Court upholds order to block death row details S Koreans demand a ‘Park-free’ 2017 SEOUL: Protesters attend a candle-lit rally calling for South Korean President Park Geun-Hye’s immediate depar- ture from her office. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AFP SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017 JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities have issued a warning to airline PT Citilink Indonesia after videos circulated appearing to show an intoxicat- ed pilot from the low-cost carrier going through security and then sounding incoherent on the aircraft’s public address system. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Citilink, which is a unit of national carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, said that the company had fired the pilot after a Dec 28 incident at Surabaya airport ahead of a flight to Jakarta and that two executives had offered to resign.
The pilot was replaced before the flight pro- ceeded, according to a company statement.
Fary Djemi Francis, who heads a parliamentary com- mission overseeing transportation, said that the airline had been asked to investigate whether the pilot had been on drugs. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“Second, we also ask Citilink’s management to sanction the pilot who went on board the aircraft without going through the briefing room, missing checks on his fitness to fly,” Francis said.
The transportation ministry had sent a warning letter to Citilink and called for an internal investigation after finding that health checks and other procedures had not been followed according to regulations, said min- istry spokesman Bambang S Ervan. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Citilink did not name the pilot but said in a statement that it had fired him after he had “ignored the flight safety and security procedures which could potentially endanger the security and safety of passengers and other crew mem- bers.” Chief Executive Albert Burhan and opera- tions director, Hadinoto Soedigno, had also offered to resign over the incident, Citilink spokesman Benny Butarbutar said yesterday.
The spokesman said the resignations would require the approval of shareholders. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“We would never mess around when it concerns the condi- tion of a flight, let alone experiment with passen- ger safety,” Butarbutar said.
The widely circulated videos have caused alarm in Indonesia, which has had a patchy air safety record.
One appears to be CCTV footage of an unsteady pilot going through security, and the other appears to be shot on a phone and shows a pilot remonstrating in slurred speech with other staff members in the plane’s cockpit that he was able to fly. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Reuters could not authenticate the videos and Ctilink did not comment directly on them.
Indonesia has been trying to improve safety in its airline sector after a series of accidents.
For a while, some carriers were barred from flying to the European Union and some other markets over safety concerns.
Citilink operates 34 aircraft, conducting 184 flights daily, the company’s web- site said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— Reuters Indonesian pilot fired after slurred announcement TAIPEI: Taiwan’s leader yesterday urged China to engage in “calm and rational” dialogue to main- tain peace, vowing not to give in to Beijing’s recent moves to “threaten and intimidate” the self-ruled island. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“As long as we can be calm, rational, and maintain a flexible attitude, I believe we should be able to find a solution that allows both sides to maintain peaceful and sta- ble relations,” President Tsai Ing-wen said in a year-end news conference.
Tensions have grown since China suspended contacts with Tsai’s administration in June over her refusal to endorse China’s claim that Taiwan and the mainland are part of a single Chinese nation. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
They were further amplified earlier this month when President-elect Donald Trump broke protocol by speaking with Tsai on the phone and said later he did not feel “bound by a one-China policy.” Earlier this week, China’s first aircraft carrier and five other warships held drills that passed by Taiwan and sailed through the contested South China Sea, prompting Taipei to deploy fighter jets to monitor the fleet.
China maintains a standing threat to use force to achieve its goal of absorbing Taiwan. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Referring to such recent actions, Tsai said Beijing has been “gradually returning to the old ways of dividing, suppress- ing and even threatening and intimidating Taiwan.
We hope that this is not a policy decision of the Beijing authorities.” “We will not yield to the pressure nor go back to the old ways of con- frontation,” Tsai told reporters. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Diplomatic relations Beijing has ratcheted up efforts to diplomati- cally isolate Taiwan, intervening to prevent the island’s participation in international forums and establishing diplomatic relations with for- mer Taiwan allies Gambia and Sao Tome and Principe.
The moves have been seen as effec- tively abandoning the unspoken diplomatic truce that lasted eight years under Tsai’s China- friendly predecessor.
Meanwhile, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the island has drasti- cally fallen. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Tsai said her administration expected 2017 to bring uncertainties particularly in the first half, noting that the incoming US administration could potentially bring “changes in international affairs.” Trump advisers have made conflicting statements about whether Trump’s call with Tsai signaled a new policy toward China but some analysts read it and other remarks critical of China as signals of a willingness to increase ties with Taiwan, which would further anger Beijing. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
But such a policy could bring economic advantages for Taiwan’s export-dependent half trillion-dollar economy, long-term access to sen- ior US officials and more sales of advanced US weapons to defend against China.
Tsai’s office said Friday she and a delegation of Taiwanese officials will make two stops in the US as part of a visit to diplomatic allies in Central America next month.
China has repeatedly urged Washington to prevent Tsai from transiting. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AFP Taiwan leader urges China for ‘calm’ talks as pressure grows Vows not to give in to Beijing’s recent moves TAIPAI: In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, President Tsai Ing- wen delivers a year-end speech during an international press conference at the presi- dential office. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AP I N T E R N AT I O N A L BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that his government would con- tinue to focus on poverty alleviation at home and resolutely defending China’s territorial rights on the foreign front.
Xi made the televised remarks in his annual New Year’s Eve address, in which he touted China’s scientific accomplishments, high- lighting its large new radio telescope and space missions, and the country’s growing role as a leader in global affairs. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Standing before a mural of the Great Wall, Xi said his administration successfully hosted a G-20 summit, pushed forward with China’s “One Belt One Road” pan- Eurasian infrastructure project and estab- lished the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
China has upheld its peaceful devel- opment while resolutely defending its terri- torial sovereignty and maritime rights, Xi said, making a reference to an international tribunal ruling last summer against China’s claims in the contested South China Sea. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“If anyone makes this an issue of question, the Chinese people will never agree!” he said, one of the few points in his 10-minute address when his voice rose noticeably.
For most of his address, Xi struck a pop- ulist tone, saying he was above all con- cerned about the living conditions of the people and vowed that improving employment, education, housing and health care would be a responsibility that his ruling Communist Party would never shirk from. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
China lifted 10 million people out of poverty in 2016, Xi said.
“On this new year, I am most concerned about the difficulties of the masses: how they eat, how they live, whether they can have a good New Year, or a good Spring Festival,” Xi said, as the television broad- cast cut to footage of his visits this year to impoverished rural areas.
Xi also promised to shore up Communist Party discipline and “unwa- veringly” maintain his anticorruption campaign against high- and low-ranking officials alike. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
He said that “supply-side” economic reforms were making progress and that the party would continue to push reform and rule by law during the 19th National Congress, scheduled for late 2017.
“As long as the party forever stands with the people, we will be able to walk the long march of our generation,” he said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AP Xi offers a populist message in address BEIJING: There is no space for Hong Kong independence in the “one country, two systems” agreement under which Beijing governs the former British colony, but there can be tolerance for differences in their systems, a senior Chinese official said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Chinese leaders are increasingly con- cerned about a fledgling independence movement in Hong Kong, which returned to mainland rule in 1997 with a promise of autonomy known as “one country, two systems”, and recent protests in the city. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The head of China’s Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office, Wang Guangya, told pro- Beijing Hong Kong magazine The Bauhinia that “under ‘one country, two systems’ there is absolutely no space for ‘Hong Kong independence’”, in comments carried in the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily on Saturday.
“Hong Kong is an inseparable part of the country, and in no situation is ‘Hong Kong independence’ allowed.
This is a bottom line that cannot be touched in ‘one country, two systems’,” Wang said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
As “one country, two systems” is new, it has no ready-made experience to draw from, and it’s normal that in this process “new situations, new problems and new chal- lenges” will arise, he added.
“You can’t expect it to be all plain sail- ing,” Wang said.
“The central government has confidence in and patience with Hong Kong.
As long as the ‘one country’ princi- ple is not damaged, the differences in the ‘two systems’ absolutely can be tolerated and respected,” he added. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
China’s parlia- ment last month staged a rare interpreta- tion of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini- constitution, to effectively bar pro-inde- pendence city lawmakers from taking office there.
In separate comments from the same interview reported by the official Xinhua news agency late Friday, Wang said the interpretation did not harm the inde- pendence of Hong Kong’s legal system, but that that independence could not limit the Chinese parliament’s ability to interpret the Basic Law. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“It needs to be pointed out that the independence of the legal system is an important princi- ple of the rule of law in Hong Kong, and the central government has always cher- ished and protected the independence of Hong Kong’s legal system.” — Reuters China: No space for HK independence BEIJING: In this photo released Saturday Dec 31, 2016 by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a New Year greetings broadcasted. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— AP JAKARTA: Only a year ago, this stretch of the Ciliwung River in Indonesia’s capital was foul- smelling and clogged by a thick layer of floating plastic and other trash.
Now, after a clean-up involving hundreds of volunteers, the river host- ed a wedding ceremony for a young couple who grew up on its banks in a bid to inspire others to help preserve Indonesia’s fragile environment. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“We have shown our love for our language, culture, now we should start to show our love for the environment,” said the groom, Novanto Rahman.
His bride, Sandra Fidelia Novianti, is a volunteer for the Depok Ciliwung Community that launched the clean-up with the local gov- ernment in 2015. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The couple made their wedding vows on an inflatable boat decorated with flow- ers that was paddled down the Ciliwung on Dec. 18, something that previously would have been impossible due to the piles of trash in the water.
The Ciliwung, which runs more than 100 km from its source in West Java to Jakarta bay, has played an important role in the livelihood of the city since the 17th century.
Despite the dire water quality, poorer communities living by the river have used its water to wash clothes and shower. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The Ciliwung, however, became a dumping ground for trash and barely able to flow into Jakarta bay.
This contributed to flooding on the swampy plain of greater Jakarta, which has sunk 4 meters over the past three decades.
Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has relocated some illegal settlements along its banks in a bid to allow the river to flow. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The founder of the Depok Ciliwung Community, Taufiq Deso, said he hoped community help in cleaning up the river would focus the city gov- ernment’s attention on the problem.
About 4,000 city workers retrieve trash from 13 rivers and hundreds of canals zig-zagging through the city of 10 million people, according to Jakarta’s Sanitation Department. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Even though there has been a reduction in surface trash on the Ciliwung, an environmen- talist said better enforcement of existing laws against polluters was needed to improve water quality.
“Despite evidence that showed a few companies are guilty of releasing waste into the river, these companies are still able to continue their operations,” said Dwi Sawung of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
— Reuters Wedding vows a blessing for clean-up of Indonesian river DENPASAR: Balinese girls prepare to perform during a New Year celebration in Denpasar, on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on December 31, 2016.
Various form of dances and music have made Bali’s art and culture one of the most diverse in the world.
—AFP CHICAGO: A Singaporean blogger who is seeking political asylum in the United States said on Friday he regretted inflam- matory posts that landed him in jail twice in his home country. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
Amos Yee, 18, who is currently detained in Illinois, told Reuters that videos he filmed insulting Singapore’s late prime minister and various religions were in bad taste.
“I told you, it is hate speech, it is overly rude, it isn’t good activism,” Yee said by telephone from the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in Illinois. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
“I completely regret making those videos.” Yee’s posts, and subsequent trials and convictions in Singapore, have stirred debate in the conservative city-state over censorship and free speech.
His trials were watched closely by rights groups as well as the United Nations.
Last year, Yee was con- victed on charges of harassment and insulting a religious group over comments he made about former Singaporean Premier Lee Kuan Yew and Christians soon after Lee’s death. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
His sentence amounted to four weeks in jail.
In September, Yee was sentenced to six weeks in jail after pleading guilty to posting comments on the internet critical of Christianity and Islam.
Yee arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 16 and told US Customs officials he was seeking political asylum. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |
The blogger said that he wanted to live in Illinois and has no plans to return to Singapore, a Southeast Asian city-state that has compulsory military service for males, which Yee said he would not take part in.
Yee should have his first hearing in front of a judge within two weeks, according to his attorney, Sandra Grossman.
Yee has had no contact with the Singaporean government since arriving, he said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721904392576.pdf | https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jan/01/kt.pdf | Cape Verde |